To others, the Apocalypse brought only horror, pain, and losses. To the two of them, it meant freedom.
It started when he found out his sister suffered a miscarriage after receiving a beating from Higson. Matthew only saw red the moment he heard the news from someone he bought from inside.
She was still in their home! He didn't even bother taking her to the hospital!
He went mad and disregarded the politician image he had been trying to maintain, driving like a speed racer to confront the man.
However, despite his rage, he was not entirely irrational. Before heading to the imminent 'battle', he sent all the results of his investigations to his friends, telling them to call the police should he not contact them within 24 hours.
He had been waiting for the perfect time to release the documents, but he needed them divorced first before he could do so. Otherwise, his sister could be dragged in the legality of everything as his wife.
He had been planning on showing all those evidence to his sister later that week.
As he drove, he kept thinking, had he moved just a few days earlier, had he been more decisive—
Anyway, today, he was determined to get them divorced that day, no matter what.
"Matthew, please wait!" A familiar voice sounded and he turned in a direction, and he saw his pale sister hurriedly getting out of a cab.
His sister knew him too well, it seemed.
"Sister!" He yelled, catching her when she lost her footing due to weakness.
"Nothing can stop this, sister."
Melissa paused and looked at him. "I'm coming with you."
"NO!" Matthew growled, yelling at his sister for the first time in his life. Melissa did not falter, gripping his arm, with her eyes particularly filled with fight—something he had not seen in many years.
Seeing this, his stance softened a bit and he heaved a sigh to calm himself. "You can't do anything. You'll only make me worry when you come.:
"How would we divorce if I hadn't signed the papers yet? I must be there!"
But she blocked his way with her whole being, threatening to hang herself if he didn't return in half a day.
The thing was, Matthew wasn't sure if he could return in half a day.
In the end, he could only succumb to her demands.
"If he shoots you," she had told him at the time, her eyes filled with determined light, "Then he shoots us together."
The two of them looked at each other, nodding, and mightily ran to the man's base.
However, on his way up the elevator, his vision darkened and he woke up and everybody else was 'asleep'.
He shook his sister who fortunately woke up and they dragged themselves over the figures on the ground, heading to their destination regardless.
Then the bodies started flinching, getting up, and moving so stiffly that he could hear their bones cracking.
The bodies darted to them without warning, trying to eat them. But he was quick to take one of the guns lying on the floor, barely managing to save their lives.
Weird game-like notifications appeared, but he was in no mood to read any of them.
He didn't know what happened but he wanted to take advantage to finally end the bastard.
He went to the most guarded area in his base, but Higson wasn't there. He only saw his piles and piles of gold and jewelry instead. His eyebrows furrowed and they approached the treasure trove.
"How many lives did this cost?" He asked, touching the nearest gold bar with a heavy heart.
A floating notification appeared in front of him, but he was in no mood to absorb any of it. The next thing he knew a ding sounded inside his head, followed by a glaring text.
And then he realized none of the gold and jewelry remained.
He turned his head to his sister, who looked just as mystified. "They just… disappeared." She told him, but his heart pounded like no tomorrow.
At the time, he had no idea what it implied, he was just terrified that the money Higson worked so hard for disappeared from his watch. The high of courage from before diffused, and he was determined to just take his sister away from it all.
He escaped with his sister to reach the migration period, hiding in the nearby residential area and filling up their space with what they could.
Then, they arrived in this world. He built up a territory using the money he stole from him.
They even named it Vismont, which meant the Land of Rebirth in the old language of their mother tongue.
Unfortunately, it didn't last long as his gang and his guns eventually found his territory and he had to sacrifice too much to keep everyone's lives.
If the Lord's token hadn't been infused to him, there was no doubt he'd have lost it, along with his life.
Back to the present, Melissa looked at his brother with a broken heart.
Her brother was so good and so kind, but associating with that bastard would only denigrate his achievements—his great self crimped by Higson's control.
Even if he was doing the best he could for the people, considering everything, it meant nothing because Higson and his cronies were there, making everyone suffer.
If it wasn't for her disease, her brother would have dealt with those bastards as soon as they appeared.
How could she bear it?
Melissa couldn't help but sob.
"Sister. Don't worry." He said, thinking of the mysterious group of people who had already done so many miracles in such a short period of time.
It wasn't that there were no doctors in his territory—on the contrary, there were plenty. But what could doctors do without medicine?
But more than the resources they had, he cared more about something else: They were strong.
He held his sister's hand firmly, this time with renewed hope in his eyes.
"I may have found us a way out."